A 72-metre skim was the day’s longest at Aotearoa’s first Stone Skimming Championships, held on Saturday at Lake Hāwea Station. The skim was thrown in a heat by Australian Abbey McDonald, who went on to win the women’s competition with a final skim of 42 metres.

Gabe Ross from The Weekend Mish, one of the event’s commentators, says the winners are heading to Scotland later this year to compete at the World Stone Skimming Championships. Joining McDonald is ‘The Rock’ radio host Jay Reeve who took out the men’s title, skimming about 44 metres in the final.

The inaugural Aotearoa edition is the brainchild of organiser Richie Laming, with the event raising funds and awareness for Melanoma New Zealand.

The competition ran across about 15 pods, each competitor taking three throws, with pod winners progressing to a final. Riley Meason, also one of the commentators from The Weekend Mish, says the rules caught many competitors off guard.

“It was all on distance, not on the amount of skims; you had to get at least two bounces for it to count.”

Stone selection was where most competitors fell short, Ross says.

“A lot of people overlook the weight and size of the rock, and that could actually be probably the most key factor to getting that distance out of a rock.

“You need something that’s going to carry its velocity for as long as possible.”

He says the ideal stone was roughly palm-sized, flat and circular, half an inch to nearly an inch thick. Each competitor selected three stones in the morning, checked through a skimometer for size before being bagged until their heat.

The day included a Bledisloe Throw between New Zealand and Australia. Meason says Australia’s conduct left something to be desired.

“In classic Australia form, they cheated and tried to sand the rock, so that was pretty disappointing to see, but New Zealand still won.”

Ross says the event is expected to return and be even bigger next year.

“The turnout, the community and even the businesses and the backing that we had behind the whole event was just amazing.”

CountryWide CONNECT with Andy Thompson & Sarah Perriam-Lampp is our daily rural show livestreamed from 11am-1pm. Visit country-wide.co.nz on how to watch/listen or download the CountryWide CONNECT mobile app, available on Apple iOS and Android.